TechNews

Update (23:50 BST): Phew, it looks like the PSN is finally back on its feet after around three and a half hours of issues. Let’s hope that it’s smooth sailing from here.

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Update (22:40 BST): It’s been over two hours since the PSN started falling apart, and PlayStation is yet to acknowledge the situation on social media. No updates have been given at the time of writing, and the network’s issues are ongoing.

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Original Story: The PlayStation Network is currently experiencing issues across all of its services, with users unable to access account settings, social elements, the PlayStation Store, and, in some cases, online gaming.

Account management being down also means that some users may not be able to play their digital games. The only way to ensure that you digital library is playable offline is to set your console as ‘primary’ on PS4, or, on PS5, enable ‘console sharing and offline play’.

Hopefully this is just a blip, and Sony will have it sorted soon. We’ll update this article if we hear anything more.

In the meantime, give us a status report in the comments section below.

PlayStation Network servers are down again, according to both player reports and Sony’s official sources.

The PSN server status tracker has all areas of the service listed at red as of this writing, indicating that “you might have difficulty” logging in, launching games, navigating the PlayStation Store and beyond (though some users say they’ve been unaffected). As it stands right now, Sony hasn’t offered any timetable for when the service may be restored, and the issue seems to have been popping up for at least a few hours.

Capcom has released the debut trailer and information for the Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin version 1.3.0 update, which is due out on September 2.

The update adds the new monsters Oroshi Kirin, Soulseer Mizutsune, and Elderfrost Gammoth, as well as new co-op quests and subquests.

Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin is available now for Switch and PC via Steam.

Get the trailer and patch notes below.

■ Version 1.3.0

Main Additions / Changes

• Additional Monsters
• Additional Co-Op Quests
  • September 2
    • ★8 (Explore) Water Eggs
    • ★8 (Explore) Ice Eggs
  • September 16
    • ★9 (Slay) Soulseer Mizutsune
    • ★9 (Slay) Elderfrost Gammoth
    • ★8 (Turn) Mizutsune
    • ★8 (Turn) Gammoth
    • ★8 (Explore) Fated Four Den
• Additional Subquests
  • September 2
    • ★8 Ice Phantom
    • ★4 (Special) Bag Me Some Bugs
  • September 16
    • ★8 Heavenly Eye
    • ★8 Unconquerable Mountain
    • ★8 (Special) Pluck Me Some Shrooms

Bug Fixes / Miscellaneous

• Adjusted some monster voices.
• Fixed an issue where a Lv. 99 Battle Buddy and their Lv. 99 Monstie revert to Lv. 1 because of a certain condition.
• Fixed an issue where an error message appears when accessing multiplayer functions as a result of choosing certain Skin Tones.
• Improved stability to address an issue where the story’s final cutscene stopped playing for some players. If you continue to encounter this issue, we recommend restarting the game periodically.
• Fixed an issue where some sound settings do not carry over upon rebooting the game under certain conditions.
• Fixed an issue where a change is not reflected in Red’s appearance after altering your Rider’s appearance with a Character Edit Ticket.
• Fixed an issue where Palamute’s scarf looks extended after entering a battle and returning to the field because of a certain condition.
• Fixed an issue where Kulve Taroth’s icon and name disappear from the quest description, after completing a certain battle.
• Other miscellaneous bug fixes have been made.

■ Version 1.3.0

Main Additions / Changes

• Additional Monsters
• Additional Co-Op Quests
  • ★8 (Explore) Water Eggs
  • ★8 (Explore) Ice Eggs
• Additional Subquest
  • ★4 (Special) Bag Me Some Bugs
  • ★8 Ice Phantom

Bug Fixes / Miscellaneous

• Adjusted some monster voices.
• Fixed an issue where a Lv. 99 Battle Buddy and their Lv. 99 Monstie revert to Lv. 1 because of a certain condition.
• Fixed an issue where an error message appears when accessing multiplayer functions as a result of choosing certain Skin Tones.
• Improved stability to address an issue where the story’s final cutscene stopped playing for some players. If you continue to encounter this issue, we recommend restarting the game periodically.
• Fixed an issue where a change is not reflected in Red’s appearance after altering your Rider’s appearance with a Character Edit Ticket.
• Fixed an issue where Palamute’s scarf looks extended after entering a battle and returning to the field because of a certain condition.
• Fixed an issue where Kulve Taroth’s icon and name disappear from the quest description, after completing a certain battle.
• Other miscellaneous bug fixes have been made.

■ Version 1.3.1 (available September 16)

Main Additions / Changes

• Additional Co-Op Quests
  • ★9 (Slay) Soulseer Mizutsune
  • ★9 (Slay) Elderfrost Gammoth
  • ★8 (Turn) Mizutsune
  • ★8 (Turn) Gammoth
  • ★8 (Explore) Fated Four Den
• Additional Subquests
  • ★8 Heavenly Eye
  • ★8 Unconquerable Mountain
  • ★8 (Special) Pluck Me Some Shrooms

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Google’s Chrome Beta 94 announcement mentions that Google is implementing some new web standards that could make browser-based gaming experiences even better. The soon-to-be-released WebCodecs could help make cloud gaming easier and faster, while the experimental WebGPU could make it easier for developers of games that run in the browser to tap into your computer’s power.

WebCodecs is an API designed to give developers better access to the video encoding/decoding codecs that are already bundled with your browser, which figure out what to do with video streams. While there are already methods of getting video to play in Chrome, they’re not necessarily designed for things like cloud gaming, which is best when it’s as low-latency as possible. WebCodecs is built to avoid overhead, making it easier to get the incoming video stream onto your screen as fast as possible, potentially with the help of hardware decoding. This will also, in theory, make it perform better than it currently does on slower machines (which are the kinds of computers where cloud gaming is most desirable anyhow).

The newer, more experimental WebGPU gives web developers better access to your computer’s graphics horsepower, by letting them hook into your computer’s native graphics API (similar to Apple’s Metal, Microsoft’s DirectX 12, or Vulkan). In simpler terms, it makes it easier for web developers to talk to your graphics card in a language it understands, without having to go through other layers that could slow things down. It’s meant to be a next-generation version of WebGL, which lets developers tap into the (now reasonably out of date) OpenGL framework. In the future, the tech should make it easier for developers to make graphically intense games that run in the browser, tapping into the full power of current-generation GPUs.

Both technologies have their place outside of gaming too. In a July 2020 talk, Google mentioned that Zoom was interested in using WebCodecs for videoconferencing, and WebGPU could be used to render 3D models in the browser or to accelerate machine learning models. It makes sense that they’d show up in Chrome, as these are all areas Google plays in, from cloud gaming with Google Stadia, to its own video conferencing apps. Both pieces of tech are open standards though, developed by the W3C, and other browser makers have begun testing them as well.

Of course, we probably won’t be seeing experiences powered by WebCodecs or WebGPU for a little while. While WebCodecs is actually getting close to release (it’s expected to be turned on by default in the upcoming Chrome 94), developers will still have to make their apps work with it. As for WebGPU, it’s currently in its experimental trial phase, which Google expects to end in early 2022. Whether it’ll end up as a feature at that point depends on how the trial goes, if the specification is done, and if enough people are interested in using it.

While these technologies may not make things that were impossible possible, they’re exciting nonetheless. When things are easier, or more flexible, it lowers the barrier of entry for developers. For gamers looking to play on the web, either through streaming or native games, the time developers save on figuring out how to get frames onto your screen is time they can spend making other parts of the experience better.

Puma is making a pair of Animal Crossing shoes alongside a line of clothes, and they’re not that far away. The sneakers, which feature various Animal Crossing-themed design flourishes, launch on September 18.

The shoe company posted a picture of the kicks on Twitter, showing off how the design incorporates Nintendo’s neighborhood-building game series. The main fabric of the shoe has a pattern of Animal Crossing faces on it (including K.K. Slider, of course), while the tongue has a leaf logo. The shoe’s colors also reflect the series, with pastel blues, teals, and earth colors. It’s evocative of the Animal Crossing-themed Switch, too.

Puma will also release a line of Animal Crossing-themed clothing alongside the shoes, although details have yet to be officially announced. However, the website Animal Crossing World shared an initial picture of a light-blue hoody from the collaboration that features the same faces that appear on the shoes.

We still don’t know what else will come in the collection or how much they’ll cost, but it’s certainly not a surprising collaboration: Animal Crossing: New Horizons remains one of the best-selling Switch games of all time. In addition, Nintendo continues to support it with new seasonal items and updates.

Over the weekend, Sony’s curious new PlayStation 5 hardware revision—same price, same performance, slightly changed internals—began finding its way into fans’ hands, and at least one rushed to figure out exactly why it weighs 0.6 lb less than the launch model. The most obvious answer, at least parceled out on a measuring scale, is a smaller, wholly redesigned heatsink element, though the person behind the discovery didn’t necessarily make the right call about this PS5 revision being “worse.”

Tech reporter Austin Evans posted his findings on YouTube on Saturday, after sourcing a new Japanese PS5 and upgrading his purchase to overnight shipping (holy bank account, Batman). The resulting breakdown is informative, though not entirely authoritative. Evans and fellow YouTuber Jimmy Champane tore down both the new PS5 and a launch model in short order, noticing almost immediately that the newer heatsink takes up far less physical real estate. Before the teardown is complete, one visible heatsink portion near the system’s primary fan is reduced enough that a finger can fit in, but that’s nothing compared to the final comparison.

The launch model’s heatsink included a complete airflow-encompassing plate of copper, along with conductive metal all along the way. The updated heatsink, on the other hand, has been re-engineered to reduce both the base copper plate and the amount of metal attached to the cooling system’s heat pipes, all while leaving the heat pipe concept intact—and likely still relying on a liquid metal application on PS5’s System-on-Chip (SoC). After weighing the two consoles while fully assembled, Evans then weighed the extracted heatsink constructions, finding these accounted for nearly the entirety of the 0.6 lb difference.

Do not mod your PS5 with shag carpeting

However, Evans’ findings come with a gross misunderstanding of what the heatsink assemblies are meant to do: dissipate internal heat by any means necessary. His basic conclusion of the new console revision’s thermals comes from pointing a thermal camera at both consoles’ rear exhaust ports while testing the console’s launch game Astro’s Playroom. In doing this, Evans measures an increase in exhaust temperatures that averages out to 5° Celsius on the new revision. However, he doesn’t run the same tests with either thermal cameras or direct temperature measurements aimed at more crucial internal spots like the SoC, the motherboard-soldered DIMM modules, or the SSD storage expansion slot.

Without that data in hand, it’s unclear whether the re-engineered heatsink is getting more heat away from those crucial system elements. If that’s indeed the case, Evans’ claim that he’d prefer to own the launch PS5, with its heavier, over-engineered heatsink, doesn’t actually add up. Arguably, the new PS5 revision’s jump in average exhaust temperature is worse for anyone who might stow their console in a cramped entertainment center, at which point an abundance of copper to distribute trapped, hot air might be the only thing keeping your sweaty PS5 SoC from buckling. But if you’re trapping a PS5 in a tiny glass enclosure, surrounding it in carpet, or otherwise misunderstanding how hot an average PS5 runs, no amount of copper will keep your console in decent shape forever.

As a test of a single revised PS5, of course, Evans’ examination could turn out to be anecdotal, but it stands to reason that Sony has a vested interest in both reducing manufacturing costs per console and not cheaping its way into a Red Ring of Death scenario. Getting an extra chip-shortage year to refine and touch up the PS5’s heatsink probably meant ample time to test both the SoC’s heat envelope and new airflow opportunities. And if reducing the material weight without impacting internal heat measures—or, heck, improving them—gets more consoles onto store shelves (and, according to Sony, gets them to per-unit profitability), we’ll take it.

Sony representatives did not immediately respond to Ars Technica’s request for comment.

Listing image by Austin Evans